Hunting the Snark
by Leesa Perrie
Summary: McKay is late, so the newly appointed Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard sets about tracking him down... Sort of a missing scene for Intruder, which was full of flashbacks, like this!


**Hunting the Snark**

**By Leesa Perrie**

___Author's Note: Title comes from the Lewis Carroll poem 'The Hunting of the Snark'. Written for Round 6 of the 2nd Last Fanfic Writer Standing challenge on LiveJournal (sga_lfws) for the prompt: __"Write any story featuring any characters you want, from any fandom you want, including SG1. At least two characters from SGA must appear and at least one from any other show." I choose to go with SG1._

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The newly appointed Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard, and damn, that was never going to get old, did not skip, because that would be unbecoming of someone with his status - Lieutenant Colonel no less! - down the corridors of the SGC. Though there might have been an unusual level of bounce in his step.

He was looking for McKay, who hadn't turned up for a lunch date with Elizabeth, Beckett and himself in the commissary. Presumably he'd gotten involved with some scientific thing or other and was snacking on PowerBars and such like, having forgotten the lunch date completely. John grinned to himself. There were times when McKay reminded him of the stereotypical absent-minded professor. Well, when it came to remembering social commitments. And names. How long had it taken for him to learn Zelenka's name, exactly?

A huff of laughter escaped him and he glanced around furtively, sighing in relief that there wasn't anyone around to catch a commanding officer - Lieutenant Colonel! - laughing to himself for no apparent reason.

Turning the corner, he zeroed in on Carter's lab, but the lack of arguing echoing down the corridor suggested McKay wasn't annoying his fellow scientist today. And sure enough, when he entered the lab, Carter was on her own.

"Hey, Carter, have you seen McKay? You know, pain in the neck, self-proclaimed genius?"

Carter looked up from her work with a friendly smile.

"No, he hasn't been around today, thankfully." She shook her head, a wry look on her face. "When, _exactly_, is the Daedalus due to leave?"

"Not for another couple of weeks." He shrugged. "You want me to distract him so he leaves you alone? Doubt it'd work for long, but it might give you a break."

"No, I can handle McKay," she replied, a wicked glint entering her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sure you can," he said, deciding he didn't want to know what that look meant. He hoped that any revenge she was planning wouldn't be too embarrassing for McKay, though he also hoped he was there to see it. "Well, catch you later, I've got a Canadian physicist to track down."

Leaving the lab, he paused in the hallway. So, where now? One of the other labs? Hadn't McKay been muttering something uncomplimentary about Dr Lee's level of competence and how he was messing up some project or other?

Right, better ask where Dr Lee's lab was situated.

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The doors of the elevator opened and this time there was the sound of an argument coming from the room he'd been informed was Dr Lee's lab, so it seemed his second hunch had been right. It sounded like Dr Lee was suffering from a full on Rodney McKay rant of epic proportions. Sighing, he entered the lab with a forced cheery grin on his face.

"Hey, Rodney, I've been looking all over for you." Okay, so Carter's lab and this one was hardly all over, but McKay didn't know that.

"Do you mind, Major…"

"Lieutenant Colonel," he corrected automatically, enjoying McKay's huff of annoyance.

"Lieutenant Colonel," McKay spit out, giving him a death glare. "You're interrupting an important conversation…"

"You mean 'rant'."

"I do not mean 'rant', I merely point out other people's inadequacies!"

"McKay," he said, drawing the name out in a way he knew McKay found annoying. "You were supposed to meet Elizabeth, Beckett and myself for lunch. You're late."

"What?" McKay looked at his watch. "Oh, well, important matters and all that." McKay waved his hand around airily.

"Come on, McKay, surely this can wait until later?"

"Much later," he heard Dr Lee mutter sourly.

"But…"

"Elizabeth was disappointed you weren't there…" he wheedled. "And Beckett too."

"I…" McKay sighed. "Right, fine." Turning to Dr Lee, he scowled. "I'll be back after lunch to discuss your poorly thought out theories…"

"Yeah, yeah." He winked at Dr Lee. "Later. Come on."

With much muttering, he steered McKay to the commissary. Maybe he'd drag McKay out for the afternoon and give Dr Lee a break. After all, he wanted to get some supplies in for their return to Atlantis. Important stuff, like chocolate and popcorn.

He was sure he could persuade McKay to join him.

The End


End file.
